Sun begins releasing Java under the GPL

BOSTON, MA — Wednesday, November 15, 2006 — The Free Software
Foundation (FSF) welcomed the public commitment from Sun Microsystems to
distribute its proprietary Java platform under the GNU General Public License
(GPL) [1] — the world's most widely used free software license.

FSF president and founder Richard Stallman said, “I think Sun has
contributed more than any other company to the free software community in the
form of software. It shows leadership. It's an example I hope others will
follow.”

Sun accompanied its announcement with the immediate release of code under
terms of the GPL for several Java components, and has committed to releasing
the remainder in the near future. [2]

With this move, Sun has made a valuable contribution to the free software
community. In 2004, Stallman warned, “Your program, though in itself
free, may be restricted by non-free software that it depends on. Since the
problem is most prominent today for Java programs, we call it the Java
Trap.” [3] To escape the trap, the FSF made the GNU Classpath team's
development of a free Java implementation a priority project. [4]

Now, Sun has begun disarming the “Java Trap”, turning it from a
pitfall into a valuable foundation for future free software development.

About the Free Software Foundation: The Free Software
Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to
use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes
the development and use of free (as in freedom) software — particularly
the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants — and free
documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the
ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Their Web site,
located at www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
Donations to support their work can be made
at http://donate.fsf.org. They are
headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.

Press contact: For more information about this
announcement or to schedule an interview, please contact Brett Smith or John
Sullivan at (+1 617 542 5942) or
email pr@fsf.org.